Evocalize grabs $3 mln from Madrona

Evocalize said Thursday that it has closed $3 million in Series A financing from Madrona Venture Group. Based in Seattle, Evocalize is a customer conversation platform provider.

PRESS RELEASE

SEATTLE, WA—JANUARY 16, 2014— Evocalize today announced the general release of its customer conversation platform, which uses multiple sources of rich customer data to help brands have intelligent, personal conversations with each customer, and to help brands turn those conversations into revenue.
The SaaS company also announced that it has raised $3 million in Series A Financing from Madrona Venture Group.
Evocalize’s technology leverages customer information and a brand’s specific goals to create and sustain a thoughtful conversation with their customers. The company then leverages these conversations to provide insights into customer preferences, to enable real-time business monitoring and management, and to leverage advocacy to reach and acquire new customers.
“Evocalize gives us a way to open a dialogue with our core customers in a conversational way that’s less intrusive than a standard survey and that’s easily managed on our end. It’s like a focus group on a massive scale,” says Buffalo Wings & Rings Marketing Manager Charlie Francus. “Any time you focus on listening to your customers it’s a winning strategy, and that’s exactly what this does.”
Founded by former Amazon.com and Bazaarvoice executives Kumar Srinivasan and Matthew Marx, Evocalize is already working with top brands, including Kobo, Asurion, T.G.I.Fridays, Buffalo Wings & Rings, Waterloo Ice House, and Burger King. Working with Evocalize, clients have seen up to 68% customer engagement rates and 9% lift in sales conversion.
Using Evocalize, brands can:
Drive awareness, growth & conversion
· Reach and acquire new customers – through a unique brand advocacy marketing system
· Increase revenue – leveraging customer experiences to help convert direct sales
· Fuel awareness and brand equity – infusing the voice of the customer into outbound marketing
Monitor their business
· Gain rich customer insights – understand customer psychographics, trends, and sentiment
· View market performance – see how specific products & services are being received
· Oversee real-time operational health – be alerted and quickly respond to potential issues
“It’s like having an extra manager in the store. You really get to see and quickly respond to everything that goes on inside and out that relates to your business. I feel like I now have a way to really communicate with and understand my customers,” said J.T. Smith, Area Director for the Igloo Group, owners of the Waterloo Ice House. “And when I saw the analytics, I was blown away. It quickly told me so much about my business – who my customers were, what they cared about, who my real advocates were, my most popular items, where problems existed….you’re not going to get that from a comment card.”
“The power of the relationship between a company and its customer is the bedrock of great businesses,” says Kumar Srinivasan, CEO and co-founder of Evocalize. “Brands need to remain closely connected to their customers in today’s world of competitors and distractions in order to remain relevant to their lives and needs. And customers want to know that their business – and their opinions – are valued.”
“Great companies recognize that they no longer own their brands – their customers do; which makes it critical to leverage the voice of the customer to help guide and grow their business,” said Scott Jacobson, a Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group. “Evocalize has developed a simple yet powerful product that enables any company to develop deeper relationships with their customers and turn customers into advocates. This deeper relationship directly influences everything from product development to loyalty programs to bringing new customers in the door.”
About MADRONA VENTURE GROUP
Madrona (www.madrona.com) has been investing in early-stage technology companies in the Pacific Northwest since 1995 and has been privileged to play a role in some of the region’s most successful technology ventures. The firm invests predominately in seed and Series A rounds across the information technology spectrum, including consumer Internet, commercial software and services, digital media and advertising, networking and cloud computing, and mobile. Madrona manages approximately $1 billion and was an early investor in companies such as Amazon.com, Apptio, Isilon Systems, and Redfin.
Evocalize is located in the Westlake Tower in Seattle, WA.